


Step by step

by Ohimematcha



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Dorks in Love, Fluff, Getting Together, kuroken mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28874514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohimematcha/pseuds/Ohimematcha
Summary: A guide to date your best friend when you’re emotionally hopeless, by Kageyama Tobio.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 7
Kudos: 64





	Step by step

**Step 1 : Proceed the feelings**

A lot of the most beautiful love stories start with love at first sight. In his case, he couldn’t say that at all, at first sight, he didn’t even notice him. Then, when he did, there was an attraction, but it was more like hate at first sight. And reciprocated. He would even have totally forgot about the boy if they weren’t going to the same school and playing in the same club. He knew how to jump, and for sure had perfect reflex, but he wasn’t the fastest or the one jumping the higher. At least at the time they met. Now if Hinata continued to make progress like that, at this rate he would be able to jump into the clouds in months.

Anyway, Kageyama wasn’t even the kind of person dwelling about his own feelings. He wasn’t even questioning it at all. Moreover, if said feelings would distract him from his goal he would easily put them aside and forget about it.

Some poetic soul could say it was like a snake coming slowly, calmly and then biting without any mercy. But it wasn’t like that either, no definitely, there wasn’t any poetry in this. No love at first sight, no lyric feeling, not even an hidden diary. It was here, that’s all.

Kageyama had learn to know Hinata, he learnt to team up with him and he simply felt in love in the process. Collateral damage without any incidence. He didn’t wake up one day realizing he was in love with his best friend. It started step by step. At first he liked Hinata when he hit his toss. Then he started to love him as a teammate when he became the only one able to hit his “king special” toss. And then he still loved him when he missed the toss. If he had to put time mark when he became aware of this, it would be around this time. But that wouldn’t change anything to know when it started. Being able to love someone, it was already great. He was under the same sky, alive at the same time, breathing the same air and blessed just to know this precious soul that Hinata was.

Everybody used to call him the king, referring to someone with high expectations, however Kageyama was just happy being in love. It was already something completely new for him. He didn’t even think about wanting any kind of reciprocity. Knowing him was enough and his feelings weren’t going to change anything, it was just here. Simply as that. So many people thought they were in love only because they were in love with the idea of love; for him it was something way more important. First he wasn’t even in love with the idea of love, which allowed him to genuinely fall in love. It was like sprinkles over ice cream, the ice cream is already very nice without it, sprinkles only add some extra to it. He wouldn’t complain about the sprinkles but he wouldn’t either have taken the risk of letting the ice cream melt by searching too hard for it.

* * *

**Step 2 : Make your point**

But even with such dignified feelings, love can’t be helped and some things were more intense with Hinata than with anybody else. He didn’t want Hinata to love him back at all cost, it didn’t even cross his mind. But the thoughts of Hinata loving someone else, indeed it was painful. He was perfectly okay with him not being his only if he wasn’t anyone’s else.

Most of the time none of this was a problem at all, feelings and romantic stuffs not really being on their mind, volleyball already taking way too much space. Apart from Tanaka and Noya’s worship of Kiyoko their team wasn’t quite the kind of team to speak of dating all together after practice. Some of the most private topics they were talking about was family. Not that they didn’t trust or care about each other’s, if any of them had troubles they could speak to the team, but it doesn’t seem to be anyone’s main concern for now.

Kageyama sighed as he was waiting for the milk he chose to come out of the vending machine. Yes, everything was fine until Hinata’s stupid friends made some comments about how they would look cute with Yacchi. Of course, Hinata wasn’t interested and sincerely laughed about that. Disappointed, the two others boys quickly changed topic but it was too late, the thought of the person he loved being with someone else crossed Kageyama’s mind for the first time. And so jealousy does. He already has been jealous in his life, but never in the possessive kind. He has been jealous of more talented voleyball’s players, of classmate with more expensive things, people taller than him, but never over a person’s feelings. That was stupid and that annoyed him even more. For the first time he was annoyed about the fact he was in love with his best friend.

As every time he was annoyed with something he became a real brat instead of trying to deal with it. And as usual, who was the person in the first line to be the victim of his bad mood? The annoyance himself.

But Hinata was patient with him, not the wise kind of patience of someone who would deeply understand the situation and forgive, but he was always biting back at him, never staying back or seeming really offended. Their usual quarrels were parts of their relationship, in fact it was very rare for them to have real fights and even when they did, none of them ever left the other. They always come back together at some point, attracted as magnet.

This exact morning, they raced again to be the first one at the club, totally forgetting none of them had the keys to enter the practice room. Used to this, they started to wait for someone to open by casually tossing to each other. That’s when Kageyama decided it was time to bring the dating subject on the table. It was the sunshine boy, nothing could go bad, right? Even when he would be rejected he trusted Hinata enough to not make it weird and let that ruin their friendship.

“Oi Hinata, have you ever considered dating someone?” Kageyama was unusually eager to see the reaction of his question on the other, it wasn’t something they were used to talk about and he had no idea how the shorty was feeling about it.

“Of course I have Bakayama!”

“But you’re not dating anyone?” He didn’t get why, but Hinata seemed kind of angry? Not embarrassed or flushed, just subtly annoyed at those questions.

“No I’m not, I don’t even have time for that!” Hinata was looking at Kageyama as if he was the stupidest person on earth, never missing a toss. Kageyama slightly sighed, relieved the subject of his attention wasn’t planning on dating for now. At least it would leave him some more time.

“And anyway, what’s with those questions, bakayama?” Hinata seemed even more annoyed in this moment “I don’t know what you think about me but I won’t date someone for the sake of dating someone, if I don’t feel all guwaaaah when I see the person I won’t date them!”

“Don’t call me stupid you stupid! I don’t know why I asked, I overheard your conversation about Yachi the other day and that’s bothering me since…”

Completely puzzled, Hinata missed the ball and took it right in the face, falling over his knees in the process. How could something like that bother the king, moreover it has been days since this conversation, even Hinata himself forgot about that, he didn’t even paid attention in the first place. “Why would that bother you? I didn’t think we would race for dating…” and suddenly the shorter boy froze in place and started yelling again “Wait, what, have you already kissed someone?! I won’t lose to you!”

Kageyama was getting mad at Hinata for being so dumb and understanding all of this in a completely wrong way. “Boke! What’s with your previous I won’t date anyone if that’s doesn’t make me guwaaah?!” He came closer to him just to hit his head and start their usual fights.

“But I don’t want to lose to you Bakayama!”

“I haven’t kissed or dated anyone, you didn’t lose dumbass!” He squished the orange head a little harder, not realizing the contrast between his words and action “Just don’t date anyone ‘kay? The thought of it makes me jealous and that’s distracting me from tossing to you properly.”

Hinata didn’t get the meaning of that and simply agreed, the only thing that rang a bell in his head was the fact he didn’t want at all the setter to stop tossing to him. Not paying attention anymore he stopped the fight when he spotted Suga coming with the keys, ready to open the gym. Ready to practice and already forgetting the odd conversation.

It wasn’t before late in the evening, when they were heading home together for the last part of the way only the two of them had in common, that Hinata realized what was said in the morning and brought the topic back “Wait what, why would you be jealous over me?!”

At first the taller boy didn’t make the link between what was Hinata saying and their earlier conversation, and when he did, that took him so off guard that his answer was blunt and honest “I don’t want you to date anyone else, that’s all.”

After a short break Hinata answered more soflty than usual “Anyone else? Does that mean it would be fine if that was you I would date?”

In that moment, Kageyama didn’t know yet if he was amazed by Hinata’s being able to understand something subtle with a phrasing or the fact it took him all day long to get a reaction about it. “I guess I wouldn’t get jealous if it was with me.”

“Okay then let’s date!”

“Why would I date you boke?”

“Heh? Are you totally stupid or what?! You just said it would be fine if that was with you!”

“But that doesn’t mean we actually have to date!”

* * *

**Step 3 : Proceed his feelings**

A short pause followed. Hinata was frowning so hard while thinking. He has absolutely no idea what to do with that. What was the point in telling him all of that if that was to reject it in the end? How could he even get rejected when he wasn’t the one making the confession in the first place?! “Alright but what if I want to?”

“Why would you want to?” Once again Kageyama was looking at him as if the worst nonsense was coming out of this mouth.

“I don’t know, why would you want to?”

“I never said I wanted to, only said I wouldn’t be jealous over someone else if that was me you were dating.”

Hinata stopped walking, followed by the other. Confusion growing more and more inside of him. It wasn’t unusual for them to have conversations this weird, but usually both of them would understand it. Right now he had absolutely no clue of what was happening and it felt like his brain was really messed up with. Wasn’t it supposed to be obvious? How could the black-haired boy even make that kind of stuffs complicated?

“Oi bakayama, I don’t know much about romantic stuffs but usually when someone confess and doesn’t get rejected people start dating…”

“Wait, I never confessed!”

This time Hinata hit his elbow so hard in the setter’s rib he was sure that would leave a nasty bruise. Kageyama had to hold his stomach, bending down as realization hit him as hard as the elbow. He didn’t plan to make it sound this way but Hinata was right, he just confessed. A hard flush took over all his face and his only answer was to kick Hinata harder than he was hit. Was it a payback for his rib or a pitiful way to escape his situation? None of them even knew.

“Fine, I did, let’s date then!” The sentence was said as angrily as an insult would have been.

“Fine!” Hinata answered on the same tone. Both having a starring contest of their own, growling in annoyance and realizing they were at the spot they were parting ways. Hinata got on his bike and they just left each other like that. Feeling stupid but not wanting to lose and be the first to soften up.

Coming back home Kageyama finally had some time to process what happened. And to be honest it was the last thing he expected, not that he would mind but never in a lifetime he thought he would fell in love with his volleyball partner, confess and get his feeling returned. None of the three things made any sense. Even if he admits he was in love he never intended to confess. And even if he did so he would only be prepared to be rejected. The turn all of that took so suddenly left him puzzled, confused and as usual, turned him into a real jerk. And now, what would happen next? How do you even date someone?

* * *

**Step 4 : Be nice**

After taking some time to proceed all this situation, after the surprise and then the utmost feeling of happiness Kageyama was suddenly hit by doubt. Was all of this going to change their relationship too much? Would they become unable to play volleyball together? Would the quick toss still work that well?

It probably killed some more of his already almost useless brain cells, only for him to realize weeks later that it was totally unnecessary. Nothing has changed between the two of them. Absolutely nothing at all. To the point he would complain. They were still spending most of their time together, practicing, fighting, trying and failing to study properly. None of them talked about what was said that day and if it wasn’t so vivid in his mind Kageyama could think he dreamed it and it never happened in real life. But he wasn’t the kind of person to remember his dreams at all and this one had way too much details to come out of his imagination.

Wondering what to do about it, he tried to think about what was supposed to change when people were together. How do you usually tell the difference between people being close friends and being a couple? Of course, first thing coming to his mind was skin ship, but he was absolutely not ready for that and he even wasn’t sure they wanted to be that official. So, other than that, how do you spot the difference? He tried to think about people he knew. Tanaka and Noya were very close friends but he wouldn’t think they were together. While there was that odd pair from Tokyo with the cat face guy and the one with pudding hair Hinata was friend with. He was sure they were dating. What was making the difference between the two pair he thought about so one pair was obviously close friends and the other could be dating? He wasn’t used to paying attention to people other than as a setter but some details came back into his mind after some intense reflection. Like after a good game the bedhair guy would give water to pudding head or make sure he has his jacket on when he stopped moving after sweating too much. In other words, he was taking care of the other, and being nice… Which obviously wasn’t the case of Kageyama with Hinata. He tried to remember when was the last time he spent a day without picking a fight or insulting him… and he had to face the facts: it never happened.

Last time he wanted to imitate someone else was when he tried to smile like Suga and he got to total opposite effect of what he was aiming for. So this time he had to be smarter than that. If he was randomly handing water to Hinata after practice he would probably get a wrong reaction, moreover Hinata was pretty capable of taking care of himself and was never forgetting water or his jacket. Schoolbooks yes, but he was also forgetting it so he couldn’t help him on that point.

Kageyama was still thinking about this during lunchbreak, to the point he even hesitated at buying two bottle of milk to give one to Hinata. But that wasn’t quite that either. Even more grumpy than usual he drank all the milk not saying a word while Hinata, facing him was putting his bento box back in his bag, babbling about everything going through his mind as usual.  
Eyes unconsciously following all of the movements of the other, Kageyama was wondering how Hinata was able to play volleyball that much without hurting himself with his nails too long. Lucky for him he wasn’t a setter or his fingers would already be ruined by now. The setter was taking care of his hands every day, he even always had a pouch with everything for that on him. And then he realized that would be that.  
Remembering to be nicer he didn’t even add a “dumbass” when asking Hinata to lend him his hands. Maybe that was the fact he asked nicely, but Hinata didn’t ask anything and just hold out his hands while the setter was putting out his manicure pouch out of his bag. Then, without saying a word as if it was perfectly normal, Kageyama started to take care of his spiker’s hands. Filing the nails making sure it was a nice round shape without anything the ball could damage, removing any cuticle, and finishing by applying some hand cream by massaging the others’ hands to be sure it would soak into the soft skin.

After he was done, Hinata looked at his hands in awe, and then gave Kageyama a smile as big as when they scored a complicated point with their special quick. “Wow, thank you, that feels soooo nice!”

“I can do it every day for you… if you want to of course!” Kageyama looked a little embarrassed, taking care of someone like that wasn’t something he was used to do at all. “That’s a shame for someone who wants to become a pro to be this careless with his hands!”

Ignoring on purpose the last part, Hinata gladly accepted the offer of having his hands pampered on a daily basis. Silently loving the idea of them sharing a moment special to them. Boyfriends moment, even if both were too shy about their feelings to say it out loud. Completely opposite in their personalities, they were however very similar about their emotions and the two were hoping for a change like that in their relationship but not taking the lead.

Until this moment at least, and then after the first move was made everything fall into place so easily. They started to share more intimate moments, fingers brushing lightly when they wanted to show something, gaze longer and softer, walking home slower to stay together a little longer. Except when they were playing volleyball like feral animals, the rest of the time spend together was covered in something utterly soft and almost shy, lead by the feeling of exploring a new side of their relationship.  
And then, when someone was questioning their bonding they just answered they were partners, a word covering well what they were. School partner, obviously team partners but also partner in life and understanding all of the meaning this word had for them was left to the appreciation of the others.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, comments and kudos are always appreciated! As english is not my native language I apologize for any mistake, I hope it was still nice to read...  
> I have four more steps in mind but I wasn't sure of where it was going so if you like just tell me and I can write the part two.


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